I have watched every episode of television show "ER" multiple times, and because of this, I'm pretty much a fully trained emergency doctor.

When an unconscious patient rolls in on a gurney I know that we need to draw blood for a "chem 7," that they also must be "typed and cross-matched," and that cardiac arrest is treated with "two of Atropine," before going to the defibrillator.

Also, shout "clear" before delivering the shock.

If a season of "ER" is about as good as a year of medical school, considering that "ER" ran for 15 years, I'm a pretty well-seasoned (though non-credentialed) physician.

Or not. While I believe the writers and producers of "ER" took great pains to inject verisimilitude into their show, I imagine that actual medical professionals found plenty of head-slapping "that's not how it is" mistakes.

I could not relate to this particular pain until I started watching Showtime network's "The Affair," which recently concluded its second season.

While the bulk of the show involves infidelity, murder and attractive people engaging in acts limited to pay cable, I'm most gripped by the portrayal of the writing career of one of the show's main characters, Noah Solloway (played by Dominic West).

In the first season, Solloway is the author of a recently published, largely unread (and therefore, "failed") novel. So far, so good. It's as though the series creators had been reading my diary.

He must also steal early morning hours to write, often falling asleep face on laptop, a blank screen for his efforts. Been there, done that.

The portrayal of publishing goes off the rails when Solloway, in a creative fever, pounds out a novel (a fictionalized version of his affair) in a couple of months — possible, though unlikely — finishing sometime in September, and then somehow becoming the talk of the New York literary community for his impending blockbuster by Thanksgiving.

The production, marketing, and promotion wheels would never turn so quickly for a literary novel. In reality, from finished manuscript to advance copies takes something close to a year, often longer than that.

Swept to sudden fame of the literary variety, Noah Solloway finds himself entangled in situations — coke-fueled parties, women openly offering themselves — that are more the stuff of Hollywood celebrity. A cocktail session with Jonathan Franzen is referenced. Philip Roth is said to have anointed Noah Solloway as his literary heir.

It makes for some compelling drama, but it is also 300 percent phony.

I don't blame "The Affair" for tarting up the writer's life, because there is no activity more insular, more boring, and less interesting to outsiders known to humankind.

The reality is that writing doesn't lend itself to public displays of celebrity.

The most successful authors around, J.K. Rowling and Stephen King, live in a remote Scottish castle and Maine, respectively so they can write without distraction.

"ER" made doctors and nurses into heroes by valorizing their quick thinking, their amazing saves. Medicine, unlike writing, seems to be genuinely exciting.

But I imagine the tougher, more common work is the mundane, everyday tasks, the surgeon scrubbing thoroughly to prevent infection. A nurse cleaning up a patient who can't help him- or herself.

Not dramatic, but necessary.

And also, the stuff of literary — as opposed to televised — narrative, people living, the quiet drama of our lives. I bet there's a novel, or at least a good short story in what goes on inside that surgeon's head as she goes through that scrubbing ritual, her hopes, her worries.

Only literature offers access to those interiors, which is why books won't be replaced by television any time soon.

John Warner's latest book is "Tough Day for the Army."

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The Biblioracle offers his recommendations

1. "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

2. "Circling the Sun" by Paula McLain

3. "The Paris Architect" by Charles Belfoure

4. "The Aviator's Wife" by Melanie Benjamin

5. "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline

— Laurie T., Chicago

Going back a couple of years to a novel that got some solid attention at the time, but has perhaps faded a bit. Still, I think it's historical treatment of an actual person will appeal to Laurie, "Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald" by Therese Anne Fowler.

1. "Fifth Business" by Robertson Davies

2. "The Buried Giant" by Kazuo Ishiguro

3. "Euphoria" by Lily King

4. "Fates and Furies" by Lauren Groff

5. "The Martian" by Andy Weir

— Jane S., Milwaukee

No offense to those who enjoyed "The Martian," but there's a serious "one of these things is not like the other" vibe going on here, so I'm going to discount it as an outlier. I'm feeling as though Ian McEwan's "Amsterdam" has the right mix of character and intrigue to please Jane.

1. "The Water Knife" by Paolo Bacigalupi

2. "Gold Fame Citrus" by Claire Vaye Watkins

3. "Slade House" by David Mitchell

4. "Furiously Happy" by Jenny Lawson

5. "Aurora" by Kim Stanley Robinson

— Mark P., Chicago

Post-apocalypse and science fiction leanings here. This novel might be a bit of a stretch, but it has a science fiction premise, with a narrative rooted in human relationships, so perhaps it's a good blend of what Mark is after. "The New World" by Chris Adrian and Eli Horowitz.

A version of this article appeared in print on January 17, 2016, in the Printers Row section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "It's unreal how unreal `The Affair' is" —
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